Numerical Analysis on the Performance Prediction of a Centrifugal Compressor with Relative Positions of Tandem Diffuser Rows

텐덤 디퓨저의 상대 위치에 따른 원심압축기 성능 예측

The performance of a centrifugal compressor composed of an impeller, tandem diffuser rows and axial guide vanes has been predicted numerically and compared with available experimental results on its design rotational speed. The pitchwise-averaged mixing plane method was employed for the boundaries between rotor and stator to obtain steady state solutions. The overall characteristics showed differently according to the relative positions of tandem diffuser rows while the characteristics of impeller showed almost identical. The numerical results agree with the measured data in respect of their tendency. It turned out that 0% of relative positions is the worst case in terms of static pressure recovery and efficiency. According to the experimental results, some pressure fluctuations and malfunction of the compressor were observed for 75% case. However, this numerical calculation using mixing plane method did not capture any of those phenomena. Thus, unsteady flow calculation should be performed to investigate the stability of the compressor caused by different diffuser configuration.